The 4-Letter-Word Patrol Is in Pursuit

By EVE TAHMINCIOGLU

Published: June 27, 2001

Several years ago, Carl Jaskolski and a few employees he supervised at a Milwaukee social services agency put a quarter into a ''cussing jar'' every time they swore. His weekly contribution averaged $3.

But today, Mr. Jaskolski, a specialist in human resources at the Concordia University business school in Mequon, Wis., has become a self-described antiswearing zealot.

Mr. Jaskolski, 46, views the increasing use of vulgar language in the workplace as the ugly side of the casual movement that that has freed workers from suits and ties. In his view, swearing is often a form of workplace harassment. ''And it's just plain bad manners,'' said Mr. Jaskolski, who also teaches employment law at the Milwaukee Area Technical College.

To fight the trend, he has drafted a language policy and is distributing it free to human resource practitioners across the country. ''Vulgar and offensive language can cause real harm, crosses the boundary of appropriate conduct and even disrupts the entire work force,'' the policy states. ''Disgusting language infringes upon equal respect in working relationships and can cause serious harm to productivity, efficiency and stability.''

His initiative has captured the interest of several companies, and that could spell trouble for workers with a weakness for four-letter words.

Susan Nattrass, an employment lawyer in California, read about his policy on the bulletin board of the Society for Human Resource Management in Alexandria, Va. She now recommends it as an insert to employee handbooks and estimates about 40 percent of her clients have adopted it.

''People seem to be swearing more today and companies want to take action,'' she said. Curtailing offensive workplace behavior, including swearing, could limit a company's liability against harassment claims, she added.

Of course, cracking down can spell pain for the offenders. Consider Susanna Seaman, who was fired from her job as a customer service representative for Verizon Communications Inc. in Sarasota, Fla., in April for using a crude expletive.

Ms. Seaman, 36, says she was under disciplinary scrutiny at the time for marching up to a manager's desk in March after a phone argument and angrily telling her, ''Don't you ever hang up on me again.''

In April, she says, she was called into her boss's office for a disciplinary review of the encounter, but mistakenly thought she was going to be reprimanded again and muttered a phrase containing the offending word. A week later, after more than five years with the company, she was fired.

''It slipped,'' she said. ''I was distraught and upset. I understand that people can get offended by swearing. I was brought up in a Christian home. But they went overboard firing me.''

Robert Elek, Verizon spokesman, declined to comment on Ms. Seaman's case because it was going through grievance procedures. The company does not allow profanity in the workplace if it offends, intimidates or harasses co-workers, managers or contractors, he said.

O.K., but what about blue-collar workers who consider four-letter words just part of their world? ''We call it shop talk,'' said Richard Montero, 41, an assembly-line worker at the General Motors Saturn factory in Wilmington, Del., which has no air-conditioning. What with the heat and the monotony of the job, he said, ''you can turn into a walking time bomb if you hold it in.''

Few do. ''When the supervisor comes down the line an hour before we're supposed to be getting out and tells us we're working overtime,'' Mr. Montero said, a majority of the workers call out ''bull,'' and the expletives do not stop there. ''There are a few people on the line who read their Bibles and ignore us. Most supervisors laugh it off.''

Even so, he added, the younger supervisors he has encountered recently are more likely to ask workers to tone down the dirty jokes and swearing.

Alice Petitt, the plant spokeswoman, says G.M. does not tolerate profanity in any form, though she added that managers do not go out of their way to listen to every word workers utter.

While companies try to restrain foul language, banning it could be a losing battle, some specialists say. Timothy Jay, professor of psychology at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and the author of ''Why We Curse'' (John Benjamins, 2000), says an occasional outburst of swearing may actually have a therapeutic effect on workers under stress.

It must be devoid of any threatening undertones toward co-workers or bosses, of course, but Mr. Jay says his research has found that people feel better when they release some anger and frustration through words. ''It's built into many of us, like a horn in a car,'' he said.

Mr. Jaskolski, the antiswearing policy author, does not buy that, and invokes his own rehabilitation to explain why. ''It's simple,'' he said. ''Instead of saying 'damn,' say 'darn' or 'doggone'.''

Policies like Mr. Jaskolski's appear to pass the free-speech test. Eugene Volokh, a professor at the University of California at Los Angeles School of Law, says that while the federal government cannot mandate a national speech code, employers in both the private and public sectors have the right to restrict profanity on their premises.

If you happen to be a workplace swearer, do not panic yet. Some labor lawyers say language policies of any kind are doomed in the real world of work.

''It's a fine academic exercise,'' said John Rapoport, an employment lawyer in White Plains. ''The problem is the workplace is anything but an academic place.''

A cursing ban could create a legal nightmare for employers, he says. Supervisors would have their hands full investigating every off-color remark, and companies would open themselves up to lawsuits if they did not mete out identical punishments for every offender. For example, he says, a woman or black employee fired for swearing could claim discrimination if a white male were not terminated for a similar indiscretion.

Mr. Rapoport offered this advice to the foul-mouthed, a category that he says includes himself: ''You have to be smart enough to understand where you're working. In some places, you can get away with anything.''

Mr. Montero of Saturn was not quite so blunt, but made the same basic point. ''If you want to cuss, you cuss,'' he said, ''but watch who you cuss around.''

Photos: Susanna Seaman was fired by Verizon for using profanity. Carl Jaskolski describes himself as an antiswearing zealot. (John Saller for The New York Times); (Bill Speer for The New York Times)